Game Notes: Mar. 23 vs. Nashville Predators

The Winnipeg Jets begin a four-game homestand, their last of the season, tonight when they entertain the Nashville Predators…The Jets are coming off a 2-1 Pacific Division road trip, which ended with a 5-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night…Winnipeg continues the homestand Monday against the Dallas Stars.

Jets Could Clinch a Playoff Spot: If any one of the following scenarios occurs…

Earn a point against Nashville

Arizona and Colorado losing in any fashion

Minnesota losing in any fashion and Arizona or Colorado losing
in regulation

Minnesota losing in any fashion and Arizona and Colorado losing
in overtime or a shootout

If the Playoffs
Started Today…: The Jets (1st in the Central) would have home
ice against the Dallas Stars (1st in Wild Card) in the First Round
of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Chance to Clinch
Tomorrow is the second chance the Jets have this season to clinch their spot in
the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs via the scenarios outlined above…Last season, the
Jets clinched their playoff spot on Mar. 25 at home with a 5-4 shootout win
against the Nashville Predators…The Jets needed 102 points to clinch last
season, but can do so this year with 94 points.

At Home
Winnipeg has the fourth-best home record in the NHL this season at 24-9-4…The
Jets have points in 13 of their past 16 home games (11-3-2), which included a
seven-game winning streak from Jan. 6-Feb. 2, but haven’t won consecutive home
games since the winning streak ended…The Jets have the best power play at home
in the NHL this season at 31.9% and have scored a power play goal in five
consecutive home games (5-for-16, 31.3%)…Winnipeg’s 36 power play goals at
home this season is second in the NHL…The Jets have a 56-15-6 record at Bell
MTS Place during the past two seasons, which is third best home record in the
NHL…The Jets have scored 139 goals at home this season, which is third in the
NHL, and have outscored their opposition 113-59 in their 24 wins.

Central FoesThe Jets are 11-10-0 against Central Division teams this season…Winnipeg is
2-5 in their past seven games against Central Division teams and both wins have
come against Nashville (Jan. 17 at NSH 5-1 W and Mar. 1 vs. NSH 5-3 W)…Since
the start of the 2016-17 season, the Jets are 45-27-4 against Central Division teams,
which is second in the NHL…In that same time frame, Blake Wheeler leads all
NHLers in scoring against the Central Division with 97 points (28G, 69A) in 76
games, while Mark Scheifele is second with 89 points (36G, 53A) in 68 games.

Springing Ahead
March and April have historically been successful months for the Jets, as the
team has gone 84-55-15 in those two months since relocation…During the past
three seasons, the Jets are 34-12-2 in March and April, including a perfect
8-0-0 in April…Blake Wheeler is the franchise’s leading scorer in March with 121
points (47G, 74A) in 129 games…Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is 17-7-2 in March
during his career with a 2.64 goals-against average and .918 save percentage.

Wheels Keep Turning

Blake Wheeler has a point in 54 of his 74 games this
season…With 88 points (20G, 68A), Wheeler is guaranteed to have better than a
point per game this season for the second consecutive season…He has 68 assists
this season, which is second in the NHL and has matched the career high he set
last season…Wheeler needs one assist to match Marc Savard’s franchise record of
69 assists in a season…Wheeler has scored 20 goals or more in six consecutive
seasons…During the past four seasons, Wheeler’s 236 assists are second most in
the NHL.

Magic 80
Mark Scheifele scored in the first period of Wednesday’s 3-0 win against Anaheim
to reach 80 points (35G, 45A)…He joins Blake Wheeler (20G, 68A) in reaching the
80-point plateau…This is the third time in franchise history two players have
reached 80 points in the same season and the first time since relocation.

Hit Record
Brandon Tanev had six hits on Thursday and leads the Jets in hits this season
with 252, which is fourth in the NHL…He has had four hits in a game 33 times
this season…Tanev has eclipsed his career high of 188 hits he had last
season…He needs five hits to set a franchise record for most hits in a season,
which is currently held by Adam Lowry, who had 256 hits during the 2014-15
season…Tanev is averaging 3.41 hits per game this season, which is on pace to
be a single-season franchise record.